Headed into a big life transition with your partner? About to get married? Expecting a baby? Starting the adoption process? Feeling a need to reconnect in an intentional way?

Most of us understand the benefit of preventative care when it comes to our physical health, but the same logic holds when applied to individual mental health and relationship health, too!

Having meaningful and sometimes difficult conversations with your partner in ADVANCE of a big life transition can help to build your bond and make for a more graceful transition. The Prepare/Enrich program is a great tool for preventative care. It serves as the scaffolding for engaging in preventative relationship care with your partner by providing a personalized snapshot of the partnership with critical insight into areas of strength and areas for potential growth as a couple.

The Prepare/Enrich Assessment is available in 4 different formats:

the Standard Version, most often used for engaged or pre-engaged couples preparing to take a step forward in their relationship commitment

the Check-Up Version, for couples in established relationships who feel like their bond could use a tune up

the Parenting Version for couples preparing to have a baby or for those who already have children, but want to better align themselves as a parenting team

the Pre-adoption/Pre-foster Care Version to help couples plan and prepare for the process of adding a child to their family unit

The various versions provide insight for couples into important areas of their bond that can help each partner to better understand both themselves and their partner as they embark on a new life stage. This tool provides the map for having discussions about areas of partnership that can prove challenging when stress is introduced into the system. For example talking in advance about expectations for in-law relationships as two families are getting ready to band together through marriage, or how a couple plans to divvy up household chores when a new baby arrives. Other examples include exploring if you and your partner have the same ideas about disciplining children or whether or not your values around money and family finances align. The idea is that having these conversations BEFORE you are in the midst of a difficult and challenging life transition will make for better problem solving, less conflictual conversation, a deeper understanding of your partner and a more graceful transition to a new life stage.

What does this process include?

An online assessment, completed by both partners

Regularly scheduled sessions to review the material with facilitated conversation by a Prepare/Enrich certified therapist

Weekly “assignments” with discussion topics and activities to problem solve the most common challenges

A take home summary of your personalized “snapshot” for future reference

The development of a therapeutic relationship with a trusted therapist to easily reconnect with in the future if you hit obstacles along the way in your partnership

If you are interested in setting up a free phone consult or scheduling an appointment, feel free to contact Bri Dunbar at Wellness Minneapolis. She would be happy to answer any questions you may have. Also, keep an eye out for group format offerings of this material in the near future!

Bri Dunbar, MA LAMFT RYT200 offers individual, couples and family therapy to encourage the health and healing of the mind and body. Therapy utilizes traditional psychological theories and techniques while also incorporating yogic concepts and mindfulness skills.Learn more about Bri here.